RIYADH — Female Saudi personnel will soon be deployed at the Kingdom’s borders to process the passports of those who enter and exit the country, according to Col. Badr Al-Malik, spokesman of the General Directorate of Passports.
In an unprecedented move, the first phase will see women staff issue exit and re-entry visas. In the second stage they will be allowed to issue passports for Saudi women independently, without seeking final approval from the main passports office in Riyadh, local media reports said.
Al-Malik said the women staff will receive ample training before they are assigned to work at the checkpoints.
He said the first stage will see Saudi women work at the King Fahd Causeway and in Riyadh, Makkah and the Eastern Province.
He said the female military staff will receive salaries equal to their male counterparts. However, they will not be dressed in military uniforms or receive military training.
Earlier, Lt. Gen. Salem Al-Belaihid, Director General of Passports, issued an administrative decision to create a suitable and separate female department to carry out financial and administrative work.
Recently, Lt. Gen. Zameem Jwaiber Al-Siwat, Director of the Border Guard, announced that female workers have been employed as inspectors and prison guards to frisk women involved in border violation cases. Female workers work at the border guard airports, ports of entry and seaports and are responsible for frisking women only, he said.— SG
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